In a shocking development, 3 newspaper employees were killed in Agartala, capital of Tripura, the North-east Indian state. The opposition Congress in Tripura has called a dawn-to-dusk bandh in the municipal corporation area today to protest the killing.
As per reports, the miscreants came on Motorcycle and attacked the newspaper office at the Palace Compound on 19th May and stabbed to death the office manager, a proof reader and a driver of a Bengali daily Newspaper named ‘Dainik Ganadoot’.
The ruling CPI-M has demanded immediate arrest of the killers and a sincere probe into the killings in a statement. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar reportedly directed the police to take all possible measures to arrest the killers.
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In lieu of the bandh, called by Congress, normal life is ceased today in the municipal corporation area of Agartala while vehicles remain off the roads and markets, schools, colleges and educational institutions are closed. Attendance in government offices, banks and financial institutions was also reportedly thin. However, Police said no untoward incident was reported from any part of the city so far.
Leader of the Opposition Ratan Lal Nath, from Congress has condemned the murders in strong words. He said that the killing is a proof of the fact that, journalists and newspaper employees are not safe in the state. “This is unprecedented in the state as well as in the country. It proves that journalists and newspaper employees have no safety or security and that law and order has collapsed,” Nath told reporters.
Agartala lies on the bank of Haora River and is located 2 km from Bangladesh.